While the Akhilesh government has said that it was “troubled and upset” by the irresponsible and brutal violence in Pratapgarh and it needed to reaffirm its authority in the state, the Opposition has questioned the role of the police in UP.
The chief minister assured impartial and firm action in the Pratapgarh violence and said that the accused will not be spared.
Speaking on the Pratapgarh violence in the state Assembly on Monday, the Opposition first ensured adjournment of the Question Hour and then expressed concern over the role of the police that abandoned its senior officer at crisis and left him to die.
Leader of the Opposition Swami Prasad Maurya said that the incident proved that no one was safe in the state, not even the police. He termed the incident as a challenge to the law and order situation and demanded a probe into the fact that other cops had backtracked from the village, leaving the DSP to face the mob alone. He even alleged that it seemed that the police was also hand-in-glove with the accused.
The BSP demanded that the cops in question should be tried for the murder of the DSP.
Mr Hukum Singh of the BJP said that taking gunners for security reasons was pointless now. “They (gunners) are meant to protect us but they now are hiding in wheat fields during an attack. Can you even hope to protect a state which has these kind of men in the forces?” he asked.
Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said that justice should not only be done, it should also seem to be done. He reminded the chief minister that majority of the village pradhans killed during his regime happened to be Yadavs. He also sought an inquiry into why only tainted cops were posted in Pratapgarh during the past few months.